Central Washington battles to win against Alaska
September 17, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Despite a career-high night from junior outside hitter Keri Knight, Central Washington took advantage of Alaska's errors to pull out a tough 3-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball win on Saturday night at the Patty Center.
The Wildcats won the match by scores of 25-23, 25-19 and 25-23 to improve to 6-4 overall and 1-1 in conference, while the Nanooks fell for the sixth straight time to go to 2-6 and 0-2.
Marcy Hjellum led the CWU with a team-high 12 kills and 17 digs, while three other Wildcat players tallied six terminations each. Kaely Kight matched Hjellum with a tie for a match-best 17 digs and Erin Smith made five blocks, one solo.
Knight turned in a career-high night with a match-bests of 19 kills and a .536 (19-4-28) hitting percentage. Freshman outside hitter Sam Harthun contributed 10 kills and hit .261 (10-4-23) while freshman setter Katlyn Mataya had a match-high 35 assists. Sophomore middle blocker Morgan Tebbs made four assisted blocks, while freshman middle blocker Megan Morrison had three blocks (two solo) and freshman outside hitter Ixchelle Oleson
added three assisted swats.
Central edged Alaska on the hitting side .188 (38-17-112) to .178 (43-20-129) but made less errors than the hosts did. The Wildcats committed 17 attack errors and only two service errors, but Alaska had 20 attack blunders and 12 serves into the net or out of bounds. CWU also won the dig war 56-48 and both squads accounted for eight blocks apiece.
Alaska led early in set one but holding a 14-11 advantage, CWU used a pair of Smith kills and five Nanook errors to grab a 18-14 lead. Alaska crept back and got to within a point twice with the last coming at 24-23, but Hjellum produced a kill to give the opening frame to the visitors, 25-23.
The second was tied early at 5-5 but a 5-2 surge by the 'Nooks gave them a 10-7 lead. Central fought back and eventually tied the set at 11. Leading 12-11, Alaska allowed CWU to score five in a row to go up 16-12. The Blue and Gold didn't quit, scoring six of nine to climb to within one at 19-18, but another string of five went Central's way and it went on to take the second 25-19. The Wildcats hit a strong .333 in the second while the Nanooks had a .233 clip offensively.
The third was tight throughout with no team holding more than a three-point lead. Alaska was up 21-18, but CWU scored three to knot it up at 21. After a Harthun kill gave the Nanooks the lead back, Kaitlin Quirk had a kill and Central got to match point with an Alaska error and a service ace. Harthun kept the match alive with a termination, but Rachel Hanses ended the match with a kill.
The Nanooks return to action next Thursday as they open up a three-match road trip at Saint Martin's. First serve is set for 6 p.m. AKDT.